The Bells of Notre Dame
by blue c 84
Summary: Klendathu. When a research facility falls off the grid, a civilian joins the Roughnecks to see what went wrong.-- complete
1. The Bells of Notre Dame

RSTC: The Bells of Notre Dame

--

"Rifles on the ready!" Lt. Rico clenched his jaw as he raised his morita. With a heavy heart, he took a sidewards glance just to see Carl Jenkins, Doc LeCroix, Max Brutto, and Sgt. Zim in a similar form while Bobby Higgins filmed the scene as evidence.

Only Dizzy Flores took a step back from the firing line. She gave him an apologetic gaze and he nodded. He understood. Coupled with a well known fact the two were once in relationship, Rico wished she weren't present to witness this.

Besides, none of the troopers here wanted to kill the former fleet officer. It didn't matter that they rarely got along. As his nickname suggests, the Big Dog was an arrogant, often over- confident man and he had the skills to back it up. He was hard to like but Rico was sure everybody secretly liked him anyway-- no matter how miniscule that feeling was.

"Take aim." He ordered closing his eyes momentarily to steel his resolve. Half- bug, half- man. The bug part killed every scientist and trooper here. The man was the one standing with his back to them facing the wall awaiting judgment.

It was simple.

SICON had ordered him dead.

They were troopers.

They had to pull the trigger._  
--_

_Now here is a riddle to guess if you can__, _  
_Sing the bells of Notre Dame..._

Corporal Jeffrey Gossard watched as the civilian hunched over a trooper as she accessed information through a makeshift console whose parts were littered on the floor. "Private Anderson, I must say, for you to be able to do this with such little resources and time-- it is amazing." He spun a screwdriver between his fingers shaking his head in annoyance. The last thing he needed while he scavenged the research facilities's machinery for parts to repair the ship's compressor was to hear this kind of drivel from a man far too smooth for his liking.

"Well, Mr. Toscana, I think it's King Mech over there you should be praising. He taught me a bunch of things about wiring things together without which this really can't be done." The technician heard the girl answer flatly. He stifled a chuckle to himself when he caught a glimpse of the girl's confused expression directed not at the businessman scientist but at the small panel of screen infront of her. He grinned knowing that the trooper's state of mind rendered her oblivious to everything else but the work at hand.

"Please. It's Leo." The scientist continued on. "Ah! Modesty. That is an exceptional quality only a few now possess."

The girl shook her head slightly. " And which should never be confused with honesty." Andy replied quickly. "What's this? Footage?" The worried tone in her voice made Gossard stop pilfering for parts. He caught her wide- eyed distressed expression as flickers of light were reflected of her mask. "Oh no."

He quickly stood from the floor and headed to where she was seated. "Andy? What's wrong?" He asked.

"Everything." She leaped off the floor running for the stairs without another word.  
--

_Who is the monster_?

"STOP!" A woman cried running into the line of fire between the creature and the troopers.

"Rifles down!" The lieutenant ordered immediately.

Sgt. Zim slowly loosened his grip on his weapon eying the fleet officer. This was madness. "Lt. Ibanez! We have our orders. Move away." He said sternly at the defiant pilot putting herself in harm's way.

"Rico, please." Carmen Ibanez pleaded with her arms outstretched. "There's got to be another way."

"There IS no other way." The sergeant heard Rico answer sadly.

"What about never leaving your own behind?" She insisted staying where she was.

Zim saw the troopers flinch but stayed uncharacteristically silent. He knew this was going to hurt them all more than sustaining injuries from fighting the bugs. This was something he would never wish upon any trooper especially this bunch.

"I'm sorry Carmen but Sgt. Zim is right." Rico finally replied. "We have our orders. Please move away." He finished.

The creature turned its head in a very human like fashion that bothered the former Camp Currie instructor in more ways than one. "He's right, Carmen. It's alright. " It agreed to its fate. "This is how it should be. You should go." It faced the wall once again.

"But Zander--" Ibanez started to argue.

"I said go!" It boomed. "That's an order, Ibanez."

Sgt. Zim nodded bitterly as the lieutenant slowly stepped aside. The order came for the rifles to rise once more. He tried to convince himself that he was not shooting down a human being despite what had just happened. Zander Barcalow was a bug. It killed innocent civilians in this research station and thus deserved to die.

The sergeant just had to keep telling himself that.

--

_Who is the man?_

"Andy, wait!" He shouted out when he realized what she was about to do. "Cazzarola." Mr. Toscana cursed under his breath as he sprinted after the trooper. He was about to turn the corner and head up the stairs she took when someone forcefully pulled him back. He spun around ready to face the technician that was left behind. "Corporal Goss--" He started to argue. But his hazel eyes grew wide as the soldier shoved him against the wall of the stairwell.

The trooper growled eying him menacingly. "Don't call her Andy."

_Sing the bells of Notre Dame_

--

Note: Lyrics from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame "The bells of Notre Dame"


	2. Frollo

RSTC The Bells of Notre Dame:

_ But a trap had been laid for the gypsies_

_And they gazed up in fear and alarm _

_At a figure whose clutches_

_Were iron as much as the bells_

Earlier that day...

Klendathu Command was one of the busiest SICON bases in the known galaxy. The facility was constantly on red alert for bug activity. Ships were constantly in and out carrying troopers to and fro. Troopers and CHAS's were constantly on patrol. Motion sensor artillery can be found everywhere in the command's perimeter. Medical and ship repair facilities were top of the line in this sector of the galaxy. It is the most technologically advanced Command base rivaled by only SICON HQ itself. In SICON's mind, the best had to be placed in the bug's home planet to show the arachnids Terran and Tophetti supremacy. The architects wanted to see the bugs cower in fear.

But it was this efficient military installation that was rocked by one single simultaneous reaction early in the Klendathu morning. "A CIVY?!" Exclaimed the troopers in Room 037. The troopers passing outside the room paused for a second wondering how noise could pass through the double steel doors of the command. A trooper glanced at a small electronic name plate above the keypad above the door. "VALLEY FORGE: ALPHA" Informed the small nameplate. The troopers just shrugged and continued on their way knowing that this commotion was nothing out of the ordinary for this squad.

Inside though was a different matter all together. The young lieutenant winced but remained seated. Several troopers around the table, namely Private Max Brutto, Jeffrey Gossard, and Dizzy Flores had stood up from their seats in shock. The rest looked just as surprised as he had when Marlowe and Klendathu's commander gave him their next mission. Doc LeCroix gave him a wide eyed stare. Robert Higgins almost fell from his seat. His best friend Carl Jenkins was slackjawed.

Ashley Anderson stopped her music player and pulled off her headphones. "Say that again? A CIVILIAN is joining us?" She slowly asked in the same stunned expression everyone else was sporting.

Then, as Rico expected, all hell broke loose.

"Sending a civilian to a warzone?! Especially in bug land. What's SICON thinking?" Dizzy exclaimed.

"They're not." Doc snorted folding his arms against his chest.

Brutto rolled his eyes. "Next thing you know we have to babysit those civies because they want to vacation here" He huffed. "This ain't no damn zoo trip."

"And they ask why we call them Psycho." Gossard remarked falling back down on his seat.

Johnny Rico started waving both his hands in the air before anybody else could complain about their current situation. "Look, I don't like it too. If anything happens to the guy, it's my head on the chopping board." He said when he had everybody's attention back. "But there's a civilian medical research station that isn't answering their phone calls. So Command--" He was trying to explain but was interrupted by the squad's resident reporter.

"Why is there even a civilian research station in Klendathu?" Higgins inquired quizzically even more confused about the circumstances now more than ever. All eyes expectantly turned to the commanding officer for answers.

"Kill the messenger why don't you." Rico muttered to himself while he shrugged. "I don't know all the facts, Higgins. All they told me was that these people paid top money to have the research facility built, have a few squads guard the place and SICON just couldn't say no. Everything else was top secret." He took a deep breath before continuing. "As I was saying, Command thinks the building's been over run by bugs. Problem is, there was no SOS call." He pressed a button near the center of the table. Suddenly, the lights in the room dimmed while a hologram of the said facility glowed from the center. The troopers leaned forward to take a closer look at the hologram.

"Like I said, the place is a work of art." He gestured to the spinning 3-D rendition of the area. "Could've been a base. It has land mines around the perimeter, motion sensors, an electric fence running around... and if that's not enough, CHAS units." There was a collective groan when the AI machines were mentioned. "Which would be bad if we couldn't disable it from here which we can." He added gratefully. "But, just to make sure, we're entering from the top. Fleet's lending us a pair of wings so we don't have to worry about going through all that and we can spot trouble before we even get there. Our POA is figure out what happened and rescue all survivors." Rico pressed the button again and the picture disappeared. The squad room's lights were back to their normal brightness as the troopers leaned back on their chairs once more. "Any questions?" He asked readying himself for the onslaught.

Max Brutto smirked. "Yeah. What's the civy going to do?"

"It's his complex. He's there just in case we need to know things Intel doesn't know. Foresight for once, if you ask me." The lieutenant promptly answered. "Anything else?"

Carl Jenkins raised his hand. "Who is this guy?"

"Yeah!" Dizzy Flores agreed placing her hands on her hips. "How did a civilian get so much slack from the higher ups?"

Johnny Rico shrugged again. "His name is Leonardo Toscana--" He started offhandedly.

"NO WAY!" Doc suddenly reacted when he heard the name.

"Seriously?!" Andy gave the same expression as the medic which now further confused the troopers. She and medic exchanged amazed expressions to the rest of the squad's bewilderment. "He owns La Farmacia." She offered to no avail. The troopers were still confused so she tried again. "La Farmacia is the biggest baddest pharmaceutical company in the European sectors. He inherited it from his parents a few years ago when he finished Bio-engineering with honors in his University. He's won numerous awards in the field of science and medicine before he even graduated. The guy personally sponsors and puts together the European Renaissance Faire in Florence every year except, of course, when the bugs took over the city. And he's only 26. He might as well be the modern poster child of Italian royalty." She summarized. "You guys really haven't heard of him?" She asked but earned nothing but blank stares.

Doc sighed. "Well you should." He stated dryly. "La Farmacia created the Tank." He informed the troopers. A wave of awe struck the rest of the squad as the familiar medical machine wonder gave a new perspective on how important this Leonardo Toscana was. After all, they have experienced the uncomfortable floating sensation of the green bot filled liquid.

"Great. If something happens to the guy, at least we know he has the stuff--" Gossard started to say just as the door slid open to reveal Sgt. Zim and a man in civilian clothing. "To chase the burn!" He finished with a fist pump in the air hoping that he had saved himself by looking over eager for the mission to start.

Sergeant Zim's eyebrow went up slightly at the sight of the older trooper grinning madly. He shook his head giving the soldier a stern look. The rest of the squad took this as a sign and stood from their seats eying the newcomer in a three piece black pinstripe suit behind him. "Lieutenant," he addressed Rico first as per protocol, "I had the opportunity to fit Mr. Toscana myself with a power suit. He seems fit for the mission at hand." He reported formally.

There was a short pause as Johnny Rico looked between the strict sergeant and the tall, medium built, olive skinned man behind him. A cough that sounded like 'Rico' from the red head girl beside him brought him back to reality. "Right. That's good, Sgt. Zim." He placed his hand out to the civilian. "Um... Nice to meet you Mr. Toscana. Johnny Rico." He shook the man's hand.

"Please. It's Leo." He corrected the trooper as he released Rico's hand. "It is my extreme pleasure to meet you. Sergeant Zim has briefed me about the operation. I am eternally grateful for your assistance in this matter." He met each troopers gaze with his pale hazel eyes excitedly. He ran his fingers through his wavy chestnut brown hair. "I have heard so much about this legendary squad. I promise to help as much as I can and create as little trouble as possible." He grinned.

"That's good. I hope you're ready for this." Rico managed to reply before turning his attention back to the troopers. "If there are no more questions, I suggest you check your gear. We leave in 0900." He barked out as best his can.

"Sir yes sir!" The troopers answered in unison.

But as the troopers slowly filtered out of the squad room, Rico couldn't help the feeling of dread filling into his system. The first encounter went far too well that it didn't seem possible. Dizzy Flores and Carl Jenkins stood beside him observing the squad leave. Their comments about the civilian weren't helping either.

"I don't know Johnny. He looks like a charmer." Carl Jenkins warned.

"Not bad looking either." Dizzy teased.

Rico could only dryly grimace. "Yeah. I hate him already."

-- --

Carmen Ibanez couldn't help but stare at the alien horizon as she waited for the ground staff to give her the all clear. It was always the same. Tiny sparks of blue and red and yellow randomly jump out from the landscape of giant spore like plants. The sky was always some shade of orange or brown. Sharp peaks were never what they seemed in this part of the galaxy-- there was always a possibility of it being a bug mound.All in all, it wasn't the prettiest rock she's flown in.

The fact was, the fleet officer hated Klendathu for more reasons aside from it was bug country. But they were reasons she would never admit to out loud or even to herself. The pilot closed her eyes for a second thankful that she got the signal she's been waiting for before her mind could wander on those particulars.

They were zooming in the air within seconds and immediately she felt better. A flip of the switch was all she needed to do to communicate with troopers she was delivering. "Good morning, Roughnecks." She greeted with much enthusiasm. She liked the Alpha squad, probably more than any other aboard the Valley Forge. Not only does she personally go to highschool with three of the troopers, but she also liked the fact they that they were just as unpredictable as she was. How can they not be? Their commanding officer was just as old as she was. Alpha was one of the few squads pilots could feel at ease with. "Ensign Ibanez here. ETA 10 minutes. According to Intel, the sector you'll be in has been bug free for weeks." She happily informed the squad.

"But that's what they always say." Came the reply of Lt. Johnny Rico.

Carmen Ibanez let a small playful smile appear on her face as she turned the ship westward to their destination. "You know what they say about Intel." She said spotting the a large grey outpost surrounded by a sea of red plants bound by an electric fence. She lightly placed a finger on the trigger just in case.

"Eh? What do they say about Intel?" It was Dizzy Flores this time.

"Intel is like a box of chocolates." She grinned. "You never know what you're going to get."

"Dark and bitter chocolate." Scoffed Johnny Rico again. "You don't happen to have any sweet ones up there, do you?"

"Lieutenant Johnny Rico, you--" She started to reprimand him for such an obvious come on.

Instead, the man's laugh echoed through the cockpit. "This isn't a suicide attempt." She heard him say still chuckling. The pilot can just imagine an angry fiery red head girl holding her morita up on the lieutenant if any of that banter were true. Suicide was the right word for it. "I think the million dollar man is getting motion sickness."

The fleet officer was about to reply something witty when she spotted a fast moving black cloud heading for them. Sparks of orange told her what kind of bugs they were. "Intel." She muttered under her breath. "Well, tell him to strap on. It's about to get bumpy." She warned.

Understatement.

The swarm of firefries forcefully flanked her. It didn't matter if the ship's weapons hit their targets or not. Another flier was always there to take its place. Carmen Ibanez grunted as she sent the ship into a horizontal spin trying to shake loose the one that has been breathing fire on her windshield.

Suddenly, a familiar warning tone from her dash dwarfed all the maddening sensors. It was all over now. "Hold on!" She yelled to the cargo hold. Then, the pilot gritted her teeth trying to do the same.

-- --

He found him.

He was the last one then his job would be complete.

There was nowhere to hide now.

Scientists may be the smartest people in the galaxy and this might be their building, but the chase was his turf. He was the one with enough experience to block away the little voice of panic eating in his mind. He was the one who knew how to cut his enemies down to little tiny pieces.

He was the one they should've been afraid of from the very beginning.

He could see him panic as he reached a crossroad on his path. Little did the little scientist know that he had already laid traps on both possibilities. All he had to do now was chase the poor thing into his death.

The bright white lights of the building made sure that his enemy could see everything. He walked slowly making sure his footsteps echoed through the hall. The civilian took a quick glance back. His prey began to tremble in fear from the sight of the tentacles that had formed around his mouth, the spikes that had protruded out of his joints and the murderous intent in his eyes. He smiled knowing that he would be the scientist's last mental image.

"Fight or flight?" He challenged the little thing. And the chase began again thought he knew that it would not last long. He growled in excitement as the civilian tripped on the wire he had laid.

It would be over soon.

Suddenly, the entire complex shook to it's foundations. The scientist fell off balanced by the small quake. Ten of the scalpels that were suppose to embedd themselves on the civilians head missed falling to the floor after it hit the wall. The lights flickered before they died completely. Small blue emergency lights that lined the hall glowed omnimously.

But the chase was over. The scientist had disappeared in the small amount of time the quake took to distract him of the task at hand. He let out a yell of frustration as the voice in his head grew louder with little details he would rather not think about.

It wasn't over.

Nobody was safe.  
--


	3. Chapter 3

RSTC The Bells of Notre Dame 3

Max Brutto was not happy. He was so far from happy that if happy were in the north pole, he would be in the south. He gave Higgins the syringe Doc had given him and Anderson to help him administer the equivalent of smelling salts into the power suits of those who were still passed out.

"Paperboy! Wake up." He called out roughly. The reporter just stirred a little. Brutto sighed in annoyance. "This isn't Earth, Higgins!" He reminded the older trooper. "I said, wake up!" He shook the man into compliance.

Higgins merely groaned. "Someone nab the number of that truck?" He asked rubbing the nape of his neck.

Max Brutto rolled his eyes. "If by 'someone' you mean us and 'truck' you mean bugs," He started off sweetly, "then, NO." He grimaced pointing to the sky.

"Someone's touchy today." He heard the reporter mumble to himself but decided against responding.

Instead, he headed to report to the sergeant who had one eye kept on the recovering troopers and one eye in the sky.Brutto couldn't understand what the bugs were doing. The firefries that had taken them down were now merely content on just flying above them in a circular pattern. They weren't attacking. It was enough to keep him on edge.

"Status." Zim said in a softer tone than he was used to without looking at him.

"Higgins is good. Jenkins is good. He's with Flores." He informed the former Camp Currie drill officer. "By the looks of it, so is Ibanez." He gestured to where Doc was helping the pilot up.

Zim lowered his gaze at him. "And Mr. Toscana?" He asked slightly worried.

There was a loud yell at one part of the wall. "We survived!" The man cheered. Brutto turned to see what the commotion was all about just to find the civilian hugging the stunned trooper. The watched as Anderson recovered slightly by awkwardly patting the man in the back. Max could only shake his head and roll his eyes in dismay.

"How sweet." A bitter sounding Gossard commented as he walked towards them with a wrench in hand. "I bet he's real fun to be with in a roller coaster." He continued watching the girl jog towards them.

She gave the mechanic a light slap in the head. "Mech, he's a civilian. You can't expect him to react like a trooper." Andy reasoned logically. "That being said, Sarge, he's just a little jittery from the crash. He's fine." She nodded decisively.

Brutto rolled his eyes again. "This is exactly why civilians shouldn't be here." He sneered. "He's going get us all greased." He folded his arms defiantly staring at the still sparking roughed up plane behind Gossard. They had crashed landed squarely on the research center's roof making it collapse to the floor below. Debris was everywhere as live wires danced around the room lit by blue emergency lights. In his opinion, it didn't matter if this was Mr. Toscana's building. The fact was, the troopers had gone into a situation blind in the past. They didn't need a tour guide who would probably end up as a liability to them all. It was an unwritten law after all-- squad's only as good as it's weakest link-- and a civilian is as weak as the link gets.

"Ok people. Break time's over." Lieutenant Johnny Rico suddenly announced to the troopers. Almost automatically, a small circle was formed around him. Brutto watched as the commanding officer shrugged. "Okay, let's get this over with." He breathed out. "You go first." He pointed at the sergeant.

They haven't made a move. Sir." Zim pointed skyward at the still circling firefries. "Bit rattled, but everybody's fine."

Carmen Ibanez shook her head. "Says you, sergeant." She replied dryly. "My ship can't fly." She stated plainly.

"Actually, Carmen." Gossard grinned sheepishly. "Hope you don't mind, but I took a look while you were out."

"And?" Rico looked expectantly at the resident mechanic.

"And, she's right. It won't fly now. Compressor's a shot." He agreed with the pilot's assessment. "But the parts I need are used in a lot of machines. So if this place has heavy machinery, if I can mine it..." He started to map out the possibilities.

Brutto smirked. In his tenure as a Roughneck, he's seen this expression countless of times. He knew it wasn't optimism that was lighting up the face of the older trooper. No, optimism was reserved for the girls in this unit. It was the possibility that something could be done. The situation was, in a word, controllable. That was what the corporal was happy about. The need for control and sarcasm are the things he had in common with Gossard."You can fix it and it will fly." He finished for the trooper.

There was another small smile from the mechanic. "Maybe." He answered.

Rico sighed. "Try." He breathed out. "I just had a chat with Command. If we can't fly out of here ourselves, we're holding our position until retrieval. Until then, Carmen's staying with us and we are going to do what we set out to do. So..." He eyed the troopers and civilian and biting his lower lip. "I want this place secured top to bottom. Since we crashed a level-- there should be three more--"

"Actually, there are four." Leonardo Toscana corrected the lieutenant to everyone's surprise. "We added a lower level after the plans had been given to SICON. We did not think it would matter since it was just for storage." He revealed honestly.

Brutto saw everyone stifle a disapproving comment and very uncharacteristically kept to themselves. Even Rico responded with just a slow uncertain "Oookay. Four levels then." This made the young trooper want to snidely say "Civilians." just one more time.

"We split up. Dizzy, Carl and I will handle Storage Level One. Doc, Goss, Carmen, you have Level Two with Andy and Mr. Toscana. When Two is clear head to Lab Level Three. Sarge, Brutto and Higgins, you have Office and Dorm Level Four." He ordered before he turned to face the only other trooper that was left out. "Andy. You're staying in Level Two with Mr. Toscana. Get what you can off the servers." He said with a small nod. "Rendezvous at Level Two in an hour. You get me Roughnecks?"

"Sir, we get--"

"I'm sorry, lieutenant." The civilian's voice interrupted the trooper's snappy reply."But you're leaving only one trooper--" The man started to complain.

But Brutto had enough. "Look. One. You're only stuck with Anderson after the level's been secured by four-- count that, four troopers. Two. I'd like to get out of here before they start to attack." He pointed at the ever present firefries above them. "Three. If there's any trouble, use your rifle." He jabbed the man's shoulder with a finger."Four. And I'd like you to remember this. Unless you have some useful information and until SICON says otherwise-- what he says," he pointed at Rico, "is LAW."

-- --

Carl Jenkin's eyes widened when they reached the first level of the complex. It wasn't the sight of turned over metal containers or the crushed boxes. It wasn't the general messy state of things that bothered him.

It was what was spattered on the wall.

He watched as Johnny Rico gingerly dragged a finger across one of the more concentrated marks. Carl didn't need to be psychic to know what was going inside his friend's mind. "This looks like blood." Rico looked back at him with an expression of alarm.

"I think it IS blood." Carl confirmed placing his fingertips on the five embedded creases on a crushed twenty- ton container. He quickly pulled back when he saw they fit perfectly. He paled as he straightened adjusting the weight the morita in his hand.

Dizzy Flores walked back towards them just as pale as he was. "Uh uh." She shook her head raising both her hands in defeat. "I don't want to know what happened here." She stated.

Rico raised his rifle with a shrug. "It's not like we have a choice. Let's just get this over with" He replied taking a deep breath before he stepped forward.

The psychic nodded taking up the rear. They haven't moved more than a few yards when he felt something staring at them. He turned to check but nothing seemed to have moved. The feeling, however, was even stronger now. "Something's here." He informed the two who paused to wait for him.

"What's here, Carl?" Dizzy Flores barely whispered.

He took another sweeping gaze of their perimeter. "I don't know." He answered. "Something."

-- --

Robert Higgins pressed the button for his camera lens to zoom in on the empty hall. Some parts had some sort of paint streaking downwards. There were various places where the metal panels had melted or crumpled. Several light fixtures hung by their wires. He lowered his camera when Sgt. Zim gave them the signal to go forward.

"What's wrong with this picture?" He mumbled to himself.

He saw Brutto face him. "Everything." He answered stating the obvious. "Civilian scientists playing with red fungus in Bug land-- disaster waiting to happen." He huffed.

The reporter sighed. "You know, you may want to take it easy on Mr. Toscana." He suggested. "I mean, he's risking his life checking out what happened to this place. Sgt. Zim checked him out himself. And, if he says he at least knows how to shoot a rifle, that's good enough for me." He shrugged. "Probably shoots better than I do." The reporter muttered to himself.

"Doubt it." Brutto answered quickly surprising Higgins. "He's a civilian." He continued.

Higgins gave the younger boy a wry smile. "Brutto, I'm a civilian." He reminded the trooper.

But all the trooper did was snort in amusement. "No. You're not." He snapped. "You're a trooper." It was here that the reporter paused in shock. Was Max Brutto being nice to him? He disappeared inside a room. Seconds later, he was back out in the hall. "A bad trooper. But a trooper." He finished following the sergeant's lead.

"If you ladies are done chatting, we've got rooms to secure." Zim barked. "Paperboy, take the left one." He ordered.

"Yes sir!" Higgins smiled to himself. It was a backhanded compliment but a compliment no less. Encouraged, the reporter concentrated on being a trooper and less of a civilian. He raised his rifle ready to shoot whatever it was that may be in the room.

But the morita was quickly lowered in shock. He almost dropped it. "Oh my..." He stared at the nightmare in front of him. Feeling out of breath all of a sudden, he leaned on the doorway. He was dizzy but unable to tear his eyes away.

"Higgins, what's your complex? Zim wants us--" He knew Brutto was right behind him. But somehow, he sounded so far away. "Sarge, you have to take a look at this." He heard him say.

Slowly, Higgins felt himself being pulled away from the room and being pushed down to sit on the floor. He lifted his eyes meeting the younger troopers harsh gaze. "Brutto were those--"

"The scientists?" The boy finished for him. "Yeah." He confirmed with regret.

Zim's frown deepened as he marched towards them."We're not dealing with bugs anymore, boys."

-- --

Leonardo Toscana gave the three troopers who were about to go up the stairs to the third level a confident smile. The second floor was secured. He was going to be left with another trooper to play with computers. Besides, even if there were random arachnids hidden somewhere, they were undoubtedly small. He was confident he can shoot them with with the infantry rifle. It would be just like the training simulation that he had with Sgt. Zim. Plus, they had found some machines in the level that could have parts to fix the plane. The thought that the three troopers would be back soon made him feel more at ease. So he made his way towards the only trooper left. "There is breathable air in here. Why don't we make ourselves more comfortable, Private Anderson." He fiddled with his helmet trying to pry it loose. "Do you mind helping me with this?" He tapped his face plate leaning towards her with a smile.

But the trooper merely gave him a sideways glance playing with something underneath the console. She started typing commands in. "Actually, we crashed the place so stuff from the outside may have filtered in. I'd keep the helmet on if I were you, sir." She answered taking note at the the windows popping up and down in several screens.

Toscana's eyebrows lifted in mild surprise as he watched the girl pause tilting her head at one of the screens blinking red. "Please don't call me 'Sir'. It is Leo." He corrected her. It was interesting how she just gave him a smile, then snapped her fingers and began typing again. He watched the girl slyly pry open the security measures his company had put in place one by one. Minutes of silence passed and he could only watch the trooper find ways to go deeper into the system. "I doubt that they train you how to do this in Basics. How did you do that?" He finally asked when the last security measure started loading in all the screens.

"Luck?" She offered shrugging watching the a question appear in all of the screens.

"What is the number of infinity?" He read out loud utterly confused. "What? But by definition, infinity does not have a number." He frowned crossing his arms against his chest.

The girl gave him a baffled expression. "Don't you know your company's security questions?" She asked.

He gave her an apologetic smile. "We let the station's officer choose their own. That way it is less likely to be guessed." He explained gesturing towards the screens filled with the same question.

"Oh. I guess that makes sense" She looked at the question again. "Eight." She nodded decisively and pressed the number on the keyboard. "Hello, files." She grinned watching the encrypted files show themselves one after the other.

"Why was the answer 'Eight'?" He asked curiously. "Is this luck again?"

The soldier shook her head. "The symbol for infinity is a sidewards 8. It's the shape of a horizontal hourglass... mobius strip... double headed Ouroboros... all symbols of infinity back in the- " She was answering but drifted off staring at something in the screen.

He saw what she was looking at. It was a video of a gruesome figure flinging a scientist to the wall while holding another one pinned to the ceiling. His eyes were fixed at the security footage of the creature grabbing a man by the arm when suddenly he felt himself being shoved forcefully. "Watch out!" He heard Private Anderson yell as he crashed on the floor several feet away from where he stood.

When he turned to see what had happened, he froze on the spot. There was disheveled man in a lab coat holding Private Anderson up by the neck with one giant hand. Only, he wasn't a man. Several joints in his extremities were exaggerated and unproportioned. His slick skin was an odd colour of malt that he seemed to breath through. Even his facial features sported a severely prominent bone structure similar to one of the scientists he had hired.

"Everybody in Level Two ASAP." He heard Rico call out inside his helmet. "Keep your eyes peeled. Whatever we're dealing with it's not a bug. Repeat. It's not a bug." He warned.

It wasn't a bug. This was not the thing they were watching on the screen but it was not fully human either.

He felt his heart race as his cold limbs refused to move to help the trooper that was now struggling for air. The thing's face scowled as the soldier's left hand continued pounding on his wrists trying to get it to let her go. Finally, he saw the girl reach back to her pack pulling out a handgun. He watched in alarm as her trembling hand aimed and shot the shoulder that was trying to kill her. The thing howled in anger and pain throwing the trooper to the console screens while her gun skidded near him.

Private Anderson tumbled to the floor gasping for breath trying to crawl away from the creature. But just as she reached her handgun, the creature grasped her leg pulling her back. Leonardo Toscana didn't know what happened next. All he saw was a flash of blue from the girl's boots that sent her careening past him on the floor and crashing against a wall of encased servers behind him.

Then there were several gunshot. But all he saw was crumpled girl on the floor with one hand gun bearing hand lifted and aimed at the thing that almost killed her.

-- --

Doc watched the thing took the bullets they had fired and with a throaty roar, jump up into the waiting airshaft above him. He exchanged nervous expressions with the pilot beside him as their group made their way back to the level they thought they had secured. From where he stood, the relative neatness of the level the first time they were here was gone. Panels were now broken. Screens were on the shattered on the floor.

"Andy! Doc, she doesn't look too good." He heard Gossard place his rifle back on his pack passing the shocked unharmed civilian without a second thought. The girl was collapsed on the floor surrounded by the thick broken glass. By the mess of hardware around her, he could only surmised that whatever had occurred here, she had slammed into the wall causing them to fall.

Doc made his way to her as he watched his friend take the handgun away from her still shaking hand. The girl was gasping for air on the floor. He nodded to Gossard who immediately gently took the girl to a sitting position leaning against him for support. "How do you feel, kid?" The mechanic placed a protective arm around the trooper's shoulders to prop her up

"Dizzy." Came a weak response.

The medic attached the cable to link the two powersuits together. He sighed in relief when he saw the readings. He quickly unhooked the her suit. "That's because you're in shock." He revealed. "Just sit here for awhile and take it easy. You'll feel better soon." He instructed giving the girl a small pat in the head. "Watch her." He mouthed to Gossard who nodded in reply.

"What. Happened." Rico suddenly appeared by the stairs with the rest of the Roughnecks looking on to the same scene that greeted the doctor when he got the the level.

To Doc's surprise Leonardo Toscana who was being helped by Ibanez stepped forward and calmly explained the situation. "There was this half man creature that surprised Private Anderson and myself. Andy was able to push me away but the... the thing, strangled her by the neck. It had been shot several times before it escaped through the air vent." He pointed at the ceiling.

Doc heard Brutto lean towards Dizzy Flores and say "Bet you he didn't even get a shot out."

"Half man creature?" Higgins blanched repeating the civilian's words louder than Brutto's comment. "You mean an imposter bug?" He asked hopefully.

"No. Not an Imposter bug. It's more man than bug. I am not sure if it is even a bug at all." The civilian continued.

The troopers looked at each other in shock. "Zander Barcalow?" Carl Jenkins suggested.

"That wasn't Zander." Carmen answered quickly.

"But that is." Dizzy Flores pointed at the disjointed panel showing the former fleet officer stabbing another man with a large piece of broken glass. The half- bug half- man Barcalow scowled at the camera before removing the installation. White noise filled the room.

"He's alive." Carmen whispered in amazement breaking the static.

Rico bowed his head in dismay. "And it looks like he's made more of himself."

-- --

Note: Another wall of text-- you still there?


	4. Heaven's light Hellfire

RSTC: The Bells of Notre Dame 4

: Heavens light/ Hellfire :

It's complicated.

And it had just gotten worse.

He 'heard' an angry little arachnid buzzing in his head telling him that troopers had arrived in the scene. That would explain the quake. Their timing though, couldn't have been any worse. In a split second, everything just turned a little bit crazier than it already has been. With troopers in the compound, he wasn't free to lay traps or wander around chasing mutant scientists. No. He had to stay in the shadows and do his work like some covert SICON operation so he wouldn't get caught.

But that would be painfully slow and lives were now at stake.

Sulking in the shadows in the corner of the first level, Zander Barcalow wished he could growl in frustration without alerting any of those troopers probably securing the place. He hated hiding but what else could he do? He had to stay still. Stay in the shadows. Avoid detection. In avoiding detection, all he can really do to show his discontent was sulk.

He hated sulking. He was used to action-- lots of action. He was once the Valley Forge's blonde blue-eyed golden boy of flight. He was Major Zander Barcalow, a man of position that mandated respect. He was the Top Dog. But one single bug infection changed all that. He was now half a bug, half a man.

But all trooper.

He knew where his loyalties should be after he was painfully reminded of the facts when he let the bug in him take over for far too long. Back then in that cave, he was about to doom some infantry men that the bug in him considered his enemy. But it sure wasn't any trooper's fault he was the way he was now and so he vowed to never let the arachnid in him loose. It's taken awhile but he had it all in control now.

Although in the current situation, it probably didn't matter whether he did or did not. He wasn't human or Tophetti therefore he was the enemy here too. Zander wanted to warn the troopers about this place but how could he? Nobody was about to take him seriously. To them, he was a bugman.

He could hear them scuffle about probably wondering what happened in this place. Then he heard gun fire and a lot of really loud incoherent echoes of panic from the level above his. He rolled his eyes knowing that they had just met the thing he was chasing before they interfered. "Infantry." He grimly started to stand up from where he was to continue the hunt.

Firstly, he had to see who had decided to pay him a visit and wreck his contribution to the bug killing community. He's been up and down this building to know exactly where to go yet still stay hidden. It didn't take long to find a place in level two where he could scope the situation without being noticed.

He ignored the second sense in him that started to scream bloody hell in his head. The bug in him was panicking at the sight of the mobile infantry. But Zander merely shoved those voices aside and concentrated on the troopers trying to make sense of everything.

"No that can't be." He heard a familiar voice argue. "He can't have made that-- that thing." She continued. He spotted a widely gesturing trooper in black telling him that this was a fleet personnel. A little more focus on the helmet showed him who it was.

He froze on the spot at the name 'Ibanez'. Suddenly, he was in a panic and it wasn't because of his bug instincts. Carmen Ibanez was, most often, his partner aboard the Valley Forge in more ways than one. Of all the pilots fleet had, he was often convinced that this particular girl was one of the few who could keep up with him. She was had a natural talent that only few possess.

However, for some reason all he can think about was how she had crashed yet another ship.

"Maybe he's been here too long. Turned buggy." A larger man shrugged an explanation.

"C'mon Doc. You were there. He saved us from that cave in. He's as human as a bugman's going to be." A smaller girl answered back jabbing a finger on the man's chest. "No way Zander could've done it."

A trooper with 'Jenkins' plastered on his helmet placed an hand on her shoulder. "Diz. All Doc's saying is that maybe Klendathu's changed him." He said carefully choosing his words. But 'Diz' just defiantly faced the man.

"You know this creature?" An unknown man asked and recieved nothing but annoyed gazes from the troopers.

"Hate to break it to you, ladies," Another man helping another trooper up ignored the unmarked person. "But the video pretty much says it all. Zanderbug just tore through--"

"Hold on for one second!" A smaller boy named Brutto went in the center of their small circle. "We're talking about the freak that disabled pops. I say we get him." He pounded a fist on to the palm of his free hand.

Carmen Ibanez shook her head in contempt. "Brutto, you have no idea what you're talking about." She glared at the boy.

"What are you--"

"ZIP IT!" Someone commanded surprising even Zander. "ALL OF YOU." He emphasized before anybody could say anymore. "Look. I see where you're all coming from. From what I hear, this guy used to be one hell of a pilot. But whatever he was in the past to any of you is gone. Best you forget it because his fate is up to SICON and we WILL follow our orders." He finished staring each one in the eye. "Do you get me, Roughnecks?"

"Sir! We get you sir!" All but one powersuit clad person answered in unison.

Zander Barcalow felt his cold blood grow even colder. These weren't just any squad. This was Alpha squad. This was the squad he actually spent most of his time either hating or liking. His time in the Valley Forge was often entangled with theirs. In fact, he was in a relationship with Dizzy Flores when this bug transformation happened. Johnny Rico had a thing with Carmen Ibanez. He got a medal for a bombing run Jean Raczak had thought of. He was the reason that the old sergeant Brutto was in a wheelchair.

For heaven's sake, this was the squad he got stuck in an ice bug with and survived.

This is bad. If it were any other squad or any other person, he'd let them be on their own and worry about doing his personal mission alone. That's the advantage of being detached. But now that he knew that the majority of the troopers here had some sort of history with him, things were different. There was an innate human pull to care what would happen to them.

He scowled counting the number of troopers. Dizzy, Carmen, Carl Jenkins, Doc, Gossard and FedNet reporter Higgins were the one's he knew personally from his glory days. The one named Brutto he surmised must be the offspring of the former sergeant. The commanding trooper must be the new sergeant. Zim the headgear had said. Automatically, he paled as much as a half bug half man creature could. Even fleet knew of the almost legendary drill sergeant by ways of reputation. Anderson, the one Gossard was helping with source wires from the broken consoles, was a new one he didn't recognize.

But there were two questions in his mind. The first was who the fish out of water was because everything the man did screamed that he wasn't a trooper and therefore simply did not belong. The second was where were Johnny Rico and Jean Raczak?

And as if on cue, Johnny Rico walked in the room looking as frustrated as he had ever seen him. "Okay people, I've got word from Command." He called out grimly.

He watched as Higgins raised his camera to tape their new POA. "What's the verdict, L.T.?" He questioned.

Zander would've raised an eyebrow in shock. The realization hit that Johnny Rico was the squad's commanding officer. It meant one thing-- Jean Raczak had been discommisioned. But knowing this squad, he would never had been taken out if he were healthy. The only possible conclusion he could surmise was that Jean Raczak was dead.

"Bad." Rico shook his head. "Command's adding a new order to our bill. So, we have to do this by tasks. Andy, are you good to go?" He turned to the girl with concern who returned his question with a nod. "Good. Because I really need you to get everything you can out of here." He ordered. "Goss, did you find the parts you need?" He turned to the mechanic beside the one called Andy.

Gossard gave him a wry smile. "I have to break a few things open here. I'd still need to see if it fits..."

And little Johnny Rico took his place.

"Try. Really. Try." He said with a nod. "So. Andy, Mr. Toscana and Gossard are staying here. Get the data and get us flying. But watch your backs. Any sign of anything, I want to hear about it. The rest of us are to scour this place inside out. SICON wants us to put that creature out of commission." He relayed their orders.

"And Zander?" Carmen Ibanez inquired crossing her arms.

There was a brief pause as the all the troopers except Brutto faced Rico with hopeful expressions. The lieutenant winced. "We are to terminate with extreme prejudice." He managed to say in a low tone.

The half bug, half man ex- pilot silently moved out of the place he was hiding from. Yes. There was no doubt about it.

This was definitely going to be complicated.

-- --

He tore his lab coat into uneven strips. The former scientist quickly bandaged his wounds crudely. At the thought of the troopers, his mind screamed for their blood like it was instinct. But it wasn't the soldiers he wanted now. The troopers were just bonus.

No.

What he really wanted, what he truly desired, was the blood of someone else. That small fragile trooper was lucky he was in shock at the sight he saw. If he so dumbfounded and pleased at the same time, he would've snapped that girl's neck in half. Easy. How sweet would that have been? One less pest on the colony's back.

No.

Instead she lived to pull her weak little toy gun at him. Instead, the others were alerted. Humans. They think they're the universe's elite. They think they're better than the arachnids when in truth they're just the same. One small innocent individual hurt and the rest of the hive swarms to save it. Where did they think the previous inventors had the idea of a powered exoskeleton now known as the powersuit? Bugs. And flight designs? Bugs. Aerodynamics? Bugs. Military strategy? Bugs. Nature creates things equal. They were all the same.

No.

He hated that man as much as the bugs hated troopers. But he was under their protection so the only way to do it was to take them out. One by one. Until he's the only one left under his mercy.

Yes.

Acceptance is sweet.

Revenge-- even sweeter.


	5. The Court of Miracles

RSTC: The Bells of Notre Dame

:The Court of Miracles:

"A toy." He grinned to himself placing one hand on the crashed ship's metal surface.

"A broken toy." His smile grew as his long fingers gingerly passed parts of a misaligned turbine.

"No escape." He drew a finger down the body of plane wide eyed in glee. "And they do not surrender." Suddenly, something in the air quickly grazed him. He caught his balance quickly spotting his attacker.

He glanced up to the swarm of firefries above him unconcerned of their presence. He pointed a finger up in the air. "We are the same yet different." He growled. "Who's mind? Who minds? Confused of the enemy?" He asked tilting his head to one side challenging the circling swarm.

He wanted to see the bugs react. He wanted to taunt them more than he already has. However, the sound of footfalls from the stairwell reminded him of more pressing issues. Instantly, he sprinted out of the light and into the darkness under the few sections of ceiling that haven't collapsed. Hidden from view, he could plan the most efficient way to deal with the troopers.

"Spread out!" The ordered cam from a smaller man on point. His helmet had labeled him as Rico.

The troopers passed by his spot one by one rifles at the ready. He waited patiently for the opening he was looking for. The law of nature dictated group dynamics. Material science had a general rule for finding the breaking point. It was where the object is the weakest.

It was where it stood out.

"What was that?" The former scientist paused at the question raised by one named Flores. But when she looked the other way, He had to stifle his confident laughter.

"Nothing's here." Confirmed the tall dark one as he came out from the suspected area.

He eyed his target carefully waiting for the opportunity to present itself. Moving silently in the shadows using debris for cover, he tracked the weakest link persistently. When they were far enough from each other, that's the time he'll strike.

He rolled his eyes remembering the order for the troopers to spread out. There was a reason why bugs normally come in swarms.

-- --

"Done." Gossard announced as he tied the last wires together.

Private Ashley Anderson plopped down on the floor and took a deep breath. Hopefully, they've connected the makeshift data cables and electrical wires correctly to have something working. Otherwise, she'd have to do things the hard way, like her current situation wasn't hard enough. She pressed the power button gently and only allowed herself some sort of relief when she heard the faint hum of the machines coming to life.

"Private Anderson, I know LT. Rico's priorities are for the security feed but if I may request the research to be saved first..." She heard Mr. Toscana start suggesting.

She looked up at the Italian suddenly standing beside where she was seated. "Well, we'll see if it's in there, Mr.Toscana." She nodded before looking back at the cracked screen she was using.

He sighed in relief. "You do not know how much it means that the research can be saved. These red fungus have properties so similar to Earth's synthetic medicine yet foreign that possibilities to find a cure for those that are incurable is high. Better, yet, the substance is organic and easily handled. The fungus, in right conditions, could farmed. It is yet to be proven if--" He trailed on pacing away from the trooper.

She couldn't help but smile when the man started talking about the importance of the station's research. The girl knew it was important. In fact, she'd rather read the research material right then and there than recover files and find out what's happened to the base. Security feeds were boring. They already knew this place was a goner.

But medical research-- now there was something interesting.

Suddenly, there was a man crouched beside her looking at the screen. "Is it working?" Gossard asked tilting his head at something that resembled a blinking prompt on distorted screen.

She grinned. "As well as it can. Thanks for your help, Mech." She patted the top of the trooper's helmet a few times.

However, the response she got was something she didn't expect. Instead of giving her a trademark 'I'm good. Very good' grin or a "You owe me one." remark, the trooper frowned eying the Italian civilian with suspicion. "I have to be honest, I don't like that guy." He whispered frankly.

"Why not? And I want solid proof. 'Guts' won't cut it." She replied while typing commands onto the console. There was no answer. "See? You have nothing substantial against him Mech. I bet you that if he were a hot Italian girl, you'd be the first to flirt with her." She pointed out.

"Heeeeeeeey now, Andy." The veteran trooper started to object.

"Just saying." The girl held both her hands up and faced the trooper. "All I know is, since he's taken over La Farmacia, they've come out with some solid medicine that's cured a few diseases that used to be fatal and prolonged and increased the quality of life of those who are suffering. Some of those meds, were voluntarily given for free to derelict communities." She informed the still grimacing man. "Mech, he does the same thing we do in a different front. Instead of alien bugs he kills disease and infection. Would it kill you have more faith in humanity and stop being so pessimistic?" She chuckled when he merely rolled his eyes to mock her.

Gossard gave her a small smile. "Between you and me kid, someone has to be the pessimist." He countered and with a twirl of the wrench in his hand, he headed off to mine some machines.

She shook her head and shrugged. Andy eyed her two companions while she carefully reached for something in her pack that she quickly connected to the console without the two noticing. With a few clicks on the keypad, she was browsing through folders and folders of data and files. One folder in particular caught her attention. Not only was it only labeled something as generic as 'new folder', but it was also meant to be a hidden from view.

A few clicks later revealed that the whole folder was encrypted in some sectors. She imagined that something happened for the program not to finish its job which is odd enough. However, the weirdest thing about the available contents was the fact that they were all in video format. She stopped to glance up at the two with her again before deciding to continue on.

The video she chose was dated months before the incident and was pocked with static where the encryption did work. It started with a brief video of flashing red lights alerting the occupants that perimeter had been breached. Then there was a clip of the troopers assigned to the facility dragging something much larger than a human could possibly be inside the complex. Then there were liquids being placed in syringes. The scientists were in some sort of laboratory or operating room. There one big screen with what seemed like a video link of Mr. Toscana looking at what they were doing. Scientists looked up tentatively at their Italian employer and back at the injured person on the table. The sleeping man looked pale with only a bloody stump for a left leg. From what she could see by the large monitors in that room, they were losing their patient quickly. There was a nod from Toscana and a large syringe was injected.

Andy's eyes grew into saucers when the man's condition quickly stabilized seconds after the serum was introduced. But what was more amazing was the severed leg. It had stopped bleeding and started to push the bandage away from the site. The scientists quickly took the bandages off and revealed that the site was clean and growing. "Regeneration never happens that fast and that global. Fungal injections are antibiotic in nature. They don't even regenerate that much... they multiply." She mumbled to herself confused when static took over the screen again. "What's happening here?" She asked herself silently staring into a screen of static.

"Private Anderson?" The civilian walking towards her broke through her thoughts. "Are you ok?" He asked with his face furrowed with concern.

She broke into an easy smile waving off her doubts. "I'm good." She replied. "Let's see what we can really do here." She nodded deciding that she can ask questions and figure stuff out later. Lt. Rico wants the security feeds.

Besides, she said it herself-- It wouldn't kill her to have some faith in humanity.

-- --

Every inch in Zander's half bug half human skin screamed that danger was near. The scientist was about to strike from the shadows where they both lurked. But for the life in him, he couldn't find him-- not by his extra ordinary sense of perception nor by his wild card friends. He can only watch in panic as the troopers went further and further away from each other naively thinking that the place was safer as they covered more ground.

A big part of him wanted to tell Rico and Zim off right then and there. The troopers were too spread out in his opinion. People can stay hidden in the darkness. Danger can come at you in that last inch of space.

He knew this what that creature was betting on. They separate and he'll strike. It only takes one death to shake up the fear and panic in even the most veteran squads. But who would he go for first?

If it were him, he'd go for Rico, not that he had anything much against the guy. Conventional wisdom suggests to cut the head off as fast as possible. The body can't possibly live without the head to direct it. The worst part was that Johnny Rico didn't even have to be the missing commanding officer to wreck havoc amongst the troopers. Zander saw first hand how the squad started to fall apart without his presence that time he was injured in Tesca. Tempers flared unchecked causing temporary rifts even between the closest of them. Lt. Jean Raczak may have been the commanding officer, but Rico had a presence all on his own and it affected every one of them.

But he was dealing with a former man of science here not a military person. Zander Barcalow had to adjust using the process of elimination. It was highly unlikely that it'll go for the Johnny Rico when Zim was right behind him. The easiest target ever would be Higgins since he wasn't even trained to be a trooper. But that wasn't common knowledge to a bunch of civilians. To these people he was just another infantry man who happens to report for FedNet.

No. He realized it wouldn't be the infantry that would be hit. He swung his attention to the only other person in the room that could be easily underestimated. And there it was-- a small shift in the shadows right beside her and she didn't even notice.

Carmen Ibanez was the target.

Suddenly, there was another reason to kill that thing.

-- -- --


	6. Topsy Turvy

RSTC: The Bells of Notre Dame 6

: Topsy Turvy :

Carmen Ibanez saw something break the eerie blue lights to her right. She turned pointing her rifle where she thought she saw movement but nothing was there. The pilot frowned. There was no way to know if it's an actual threat or just light being temporarily blocked by the still circling fliers in the sky. Fireflies that could attack anytime just like the scientist and Zander.

This was a nightmare. In her opinion, they were literally sitting ducks waiting which of the three would finish them off.

There was a soft yet audible snap behind her-- the sound of something scraping against a fallen metal piece. She quickly turned around but there was nothing but debris again. A chill went down her spine. The fleet officer however, was wise to try and brush her fear away. "Get a hold of yourself, Carmen." She whispered to no one in particular. "There's no boogie man. Just bugs." She grimaced.

A sudden growl to her right brought her back. She pivoted to face whatever it was just to see in mid-turn that it was a white coat-- The scientist was already in mid air, launching himself at her. She stood frozen in shock as everything slowed down. Her eyes widened with alarm when a second outraged blur to her left seemed to be headed for her as well.

Only it wasn't.

In a blink of an eye, the two crashed into a pile of rubble in the distance. Ibanez could only stare as Zander lifted both of his left fists and sent it pummeling down on the his pinned opponent. The ex scientist stopped struggling lying still on the floor. She watched Zander Barcalow get to his feet, grunting before he turned to face her.

Maybe it was the adrenaline, but Carmen could've sworn there was a flicker of concern in the former officer's eyes when he looked her over. "You alright?" The bugman asked breathing heavily though he wasn't focused on her anymore. Instead, he looked beyond her to the troopers that had hurriedly formed a firing line.

"I'm- I'm fine." She stammered looking back and forth from the troopers to Zander Barcalow.

"Is that thing-- it-- dead?" Higgins asked breaking the silence that had formed.

The pilot's eyes landed on the still form of the former scientist. "Pretty much." Came the smug reply.

"Good." Rico said. "I need you to call off your bugs Zander." He requested. Carmen Ibanez raised her line of sight to the sky where the fireflies had been circling like vultures.

But with a small sound from the bugman, the fliers scattered. "Didn't know you were so smart, Rico." Zander commented. "Where's Lt. Raczak?"

Carmen snapped her attention back at the situation at hand and away from the Klendathu sky. "Bought his piece. In the war." She answered for the Roughnecks.

"Well, I'll say hi for you, Roughnecks." She watched as Zander Barcalow raised all four of his arms in surrender. "Well, what are you waiting for, Lieutenant?" He challenged Rico. "Didn't SICON order you to kill me?" He reminded them.

Carmen gave the Roughneck's commanding officer a terrified look. "Rico you can't. You saw it. He. Saved. Me." She reasoned out.

There was a snort from Barcalow. He took a step forward and pushed her aside easily with one of his arms. "I'm waiting." He taunted. "Maybe I should turn around. Would that make it easier for you?" He continued slowly turning.

"What are we waiting for?" Brutto cried exasperating. "It's basically asking for it! L.T., he screwed Pops over. It's not human." He complained raising his rifle.

"They're both right." Carmen heard Zim say in a lowered tone. He too, raised his rifle and took aim.

"Rico?" Dizzy Flores called out tentatively not knowing what to do.

Her eyes met his. He sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry, Carmen." He mouthed out to her."Goss, Andy. We found Barcalow. Radio silence until I say so." He called over the comm. When he raised his gaze, he raised his rifle. "Rifle's on the ready!" He ordered.

The rifles were raised. Carmen's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe this was happening. The Roughnecks-- THE Roughnecks were about to fire on someone they knew-- someone who had just saved her life.

She watched as Flores lowered her weapon giving her friend an apologetic step back. The lieutenant merely nodded. "Take aim!" He ordered. She saw their fingers lay gently on the trigger awaiting the next command.

The last command.

She saw Zander Barcalow close his eyes accepting his fate.

Helpless, Carmen Ibanez wondered if any of this was real.

-- -- -

"Private Anderson, I must say, for you to be able to do this with such little resources and time-- it is amazing." Leonardo Toscana praised the young soldier as he hunched down to watch her work. All he could see through the broken panels were broken gauges and misaligned lines and letters.

His smile fell a little when the trooper did not even acknowledge his compliment. Instead she deflected it so that he, in turn, was complimenting the mechanic in the room with them. "Well, Mr. Toscana, I think it's King Mech over there you should be thanking. He taught me a bunch of things about wiring things together." She answered without turning to face him.

The Italian civilian decided to try a little bit harder. "Please. It's Leo." He corrected her. "Ah! Modesty. That is an exceptional quality only a few now possess." He looked expectantly at her waiting for her to look at him and blush like the other girls that he had so easily able to charm in this manner.

But to his surprise, the girl just verbally waved it off again with a blunt reply. "And which should never be confused with honesty." She continued typing commands.

Leonardo Toscana's just stared at the girl shocked that none of his approaches had worked. "What's this? Footage?" He heard the girl say. He faced the small screen and his eyes widened in horror.

He knew what this was. The scientists had strapped on the table an unconscious bug man. On another table, they had a fatally injured researcher. The scientists had taken a sample of the bugman's 'blood' through a syringe and directly injected it to the researcher. The man on the table quickly fell into some sort epileptic shock before stabilizing. But by then, his injury was gone. Instead, the man's bones started to grow out of his skin. As madness ensued, he could see his countenance on a screen above the clinic room giving them angry instructions.

"Oh no." Her voice grew small terrified. He watched as she just stared at the footage for a second longer like she was trying to take in what had just happened.

"Andy? What's wrong?" The Italian saw Corporal Gossard leave his work heading for them carefully.

"Everything." She answered. Private Anderson was on her feet in an instant running for the stairwell.

He was after her in less than a second. He saw the mechanic quickly pass them to inspect what they had seen. The civilian reached out grabbing the girl's arm roughly to stop her before she got too far. "You do not understand." He said a little more forcefully than he wanted to.

"Let go." She tried to yank her arm away from his grasp which only let him hold on to her more.

He felt the panes of her powersuit give in when his suit amplified the force he was exerting on her arm. "He was dead anyway." He reasoned when he saw her gasp in pain.

"I said, let go!" She yelled twisting the arm he held forcing him to release his hold on her. The reversal was too fast for him. Instantly, he found his arm twisted behind him and he was being pushed back to where he had just come from.

He stumbled and fell right beside her makeshift computer watching her figure disappear up the stairs. Mr. Toscana growled and at the sound of the soft whirl of components, he brought an angry fist down to silence it. He was rewarded by a loud crunch.

"You caused all this." The mechanic boomed menacingly over him. "You were flirting to distract her. She thought--"

"Oh, quiet!" He ordered as he fearlessly kicked the mechanic's ankle hard and watched in satisfaction as he fell.

-- -- -

"Stop!"

"Rifles down!"

Max Brutto lowered his weapon and rolled his eyes. "You've got to be kidding me." He muttered to himself. In his opinion, the flygirl's probably had one crash too many. How else could anyone explain why she was now blocking thier line of fire.

""Lt. Ibanez! We have our orders. Move away." Zim boomed, which made the younger Brutto smirk. If there's anyone who would follow SICON to the letter, it would've been Zim. Anybody who went under his training regimen knew this was true. He was glad-- at least one Roughneck had his priority straight.

But to his surprise, Ibanez addressed Rico instead of the sergeant that had voiced his discontent with her actions. "Rico, please. There's got to be another way." She insisted. Brutto gave the fleet officer a confused look. Were they watching the same feed? This thing tortured people and she wants to save him??

He shook his head.

One crash too many.

"There IS no other way." Rico sighed out sadly.

"What about never leaving your own behind?" She pointed out.

The young trooper flinched in confusion. He could understand how the rest could be sympathetic. They knew him when he was human. But things were different now. For heaven's sake-- it took permanently injured his father, it has four arms and to his understanging, it nearly greased the all before.

The thing's a BUG.

"I'm sorry Carmen but Sgt. Zim is right." The lieutenant replied. "We have our orders. Please move away." He finished.

"He's right, Carmen. It's alright. " See? Even the bug wanted to die. "This is how it should be. You should go." It said.

Max's frustration mounted when the pilot started to argue. "But Zander--"

"I said go!" It growled. "That's an order Ibanez."

Finally, the pilot consented and moved aside. "Rifles!" The order came again.

"Finally." Brutto breathed as he lifted his weapon once more. But just as quickly as he got an inch closer to avenging his father, he got knocked down.

-- -- -

"Andy wait!"

His ankle may be hurting. He was limping. He was pretty sure his ankle was swollen and bruised, worse yet, twisted by that surprise attack. But he chased the Italian chasing his squadmate nevertheless.

Jeffrey Gossard had never been so mad.

When the Italian was within arms reach, he grabbed the man forcing him to the wall. "Corporal Goss--" The Italian tried to reason and struggle.

But the mechanic wouldn't hear any of it. "Don't call her, Andy." He growled. "You have no right to call anybody anything vaguely resembling familiarity." He added pushing the civilian forcefully back.

"Eloquent-- for a trooper." The civilian sneered. "You do not fully understand what is happening here. That creature is half man and half arachnid. He is--"

Gossard rolled his eyes with a small shake of his head. "Save it. I've seen enough that I don't want to know." He cut the man short while reaching for his rifle. "Now if you move or try anything-- anything at all, I'll consider that hostile and shoot." He tapped the nozzle to the other man's chest. "Do you fully understand what is happening here?" He mimicked.

Leonardo Toscana just smirked. "You can't arrest me." He said smugly. "Let me explain to you how this works."

-- -- -

Doc gave his hand to help on of the troopers up. "Didn't know you felt that way about, Brutto." He remarked.

The girl groaned. "Believe me, this is not what it looks like." She replied as she slowly got to her feet. "Besides, he doesn't look to happy about it."

Doc eyed the seething Max Brutto dusting off his power suit out of habit. "Anderson! What is your--"

"I'm sorry!" The girl apologized immediately. "I was actually afraid I was too late. You were the most likely to shoot first. I'm sorry." She repeated. "But I can't let you kill that... er... that. It was doing us a favor." She finished.

The medic's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?" He asked carefully as Max Brutto kept his rifle raised and aimed for the bug man.

"Anderson, this better be good." The sergeant looked at her expectantly.

Andy nodded trying to catch her breath. "It didn't make the others like it. It trespassed--"

"Its name is Zander." Dizzy Flores corrected her.

"Zander." The girl nodded again. "SO. Zander thing trespassed this place. Got buzzed, blown up-- whatever. You've seen the defenses of this place. Anything could've knocked him out. The scientists held him prisoner. Zander thing probably caused some ruckus or attempted some failed escape and injured a few people. But under his orders, they transferred his blood to the injured personnel..." She explained quickly.

"And that created the other bug people?" Rico finished for her.

The girl nodded again. "But the problem is-- volatility."

"So Zander was doing us a favor by getting rid of them?" Carl Jenkins asked out loud.

"Bingo was his name." Andy answered.

This time it was the medic who was confused. "Why would Mr. Toscana order something like that? Mixing DNA's not exactly the smartest thing to do." He said.

"You should see the feeds, Doc. The injured guys, they regenerated their lost... er... whatevers." She replied wiggling her fingers at the medic in an attempt to explain what she saw.

Sgt. Zim sighed signaling for Brutto to lower his weapon, which the boy reluctantly followed. "Private, if this is true, then Mr. Toscana is more capable than we thought he was. Where is the civilian and these so called video feeds?"

The girl paled. "Oh no." She groaned. "I was trying to get here as fast as I could. Radio silence and all." She started sprinting off. "I left him alone with Gossard."

-- -- -

: SO! we've come full circle.

: : oh! It's not wiredoncoffee dot devart dot com hahaha it's wired-on-coffee (with hyphens) sorry, i lost your email by accident :D


	7. Chapter 7

RSTC The Bells of Notre Dame 7

"--behind any military regime. For short, the creation of SICON itself was already troubled from the very start." A confident voice echoed through the quiet staircase.

Sgt. Zim firmly caught the sprinting trooper and silently ordered her to keep quiet. The he signaled the FedNet reporter behind him to continue filming. This sounded important and he wanted to get every little bit on tape if possible.

The Roughnecks were two short as it is. They had left Dizzy Flores and Carl Jenkins with Ibanez to look after Barcalow. If anything else were to happen because of the Italian civilian, he'd rather have some kind of objective proof than for the higher ups to listen to subjective views. A confession from the owner of La Farmacia would be the best thing to happen.

With the lieutenant taking point, the troopers slowly and silently fell in line going down the stairs. The conversation between the veteran trooper and Mr. Toscana wore on and worried the old sergeant even more.

"So. Just because you're well known means you're untouchable?" They heard Gossard counter. "You're a piece of work, you know that."

There was a small chuckle. "Do you honestly believe that I have no influence over the minds of the public? I am one of the richest people in the world. You do not get that from just being smart and inheriting the fortune." He pointed out. "SICON may have brains and big guns. But I have something you militarists do not."

"And what's that?" The mechanic asked.

"Charisma." The Italian simply answered. "I am well liked by the world community at large. I hold art festivals. I give free medicine. I donate funds and supply SICON with it's precious tank bots..."There was a pause. "In the eyes of the public, I am-- how do you put it?-- Doing my part." He imitated the recruitment videos. "So when I say jump, people, including SICON, ask how high." He said in an overbearing tone.

"Not when the higher ups get word about your human experiments." Gossard reminded the man.

Zim felt a chill go down his spine when the Italian mere laughed. He could see the two now through the railing. A rifle was pointed at the still civilian. "You seem to have a short memory. Private Anderson left so quickly to stop the execution. She left everything. And I crushed everything. There is no evidence." He sneered.

The sergeant and the lieutenant exchanged concerned looks before turning their heads to the girl in question. Zim saw her jaw drop with what looks like disbelief. "Well?" He questioned barely whispering.

"Andy, please tell me you have something." Rico gave her a pleading look.

The trooper defiantly stared back at the two officers. "Oh ye of little faith." She replied placing a tiny trinket she got from her pack on Zim's hand. "Luckily, I tote that around." The sergeant just eyed the small blue thing suspiciously. It was just as big as his thumbnail and mere millimeters thick. "I didn't get something-- I got everything." She pointed at the blue object.

"And even if that little girl stopped the execution, who do you think your superiors will believe? A man like me or a bunch of emotional troopers that have defied their orders like you?" The civilian smirked. "Remember Corporal, civilians like me have more clout than you believe." He tapped the rifle's nozzle.

"And troopers like us have more on you than you believe." Rico finally interrupted the conversation going down the stairs one step at the time followed by the troopers. "We have that on video." He pointed at Higgins, who waved.

Zim smirked dangling the shiny blue trinket. "And we have what you tried to destroy." He said recalling Gossard to join them with a hand gesture.

"Leonardo Toscana," Rico stated coldly. "You're under arrest. Doc, disarm him." He ordered.

"This. Is. So. Cool." Higgins grinned earning a stern look from the sergeant before slinking away.

-- -- -

Zander Barcalow watched as the Roughnecks went about their business repairing the ship as much as they possibly could-- except for Higgins who they assigned to watch the still confident Leonardo Toscana who was seated and barred inside. "Hey Barcalow!" He heard his name being called out. He turned to see the mechanic balanced on top of the ship's wing with a small torch pointing at a sheet of metal below him. "If you're not too busy, maybe you'd want to hand lift that with your big strong four arms." He chuckled nudging Doc beside him. "Get it. Forearms. Four arms." He watched as the medic just rolled his eyes.

"Level down on the funny meter." Doc remarked.

It's not his usual style to comply but he did it anyway quite happy to be of some use to the troopers. However, not without his own parting shot. "What's the matter Gossard? Finally feeling some competition?" He taunted as he lifted the said metal sheet up so the other could weld.

The medic chuckled. "The bug cracks jokes."

"This is all a joke." Brutto huffed passing by the three carrying a toolbox.

"Don't mind him." Carmen Ibanez suddenly appeared beside him. "He's just angry." She shrugged.

The bugman gave the human a skeptical glance. "So he really is sergeant--"

"Oh yeah." Dizzy Flores answered sliding down the top of the plane and landing on the wing. "Like you wouldn't believe." She added. "Hey, L.T. wants to know when we can fly." She informed the two who are welding joints.

"Tell him these things take time." Gossard replied. The red head gave him a wry look. "15 minutes tops." He stated more specifically.

"Although if those four helped..." Doc trailed on.

"Hey! Newsflash." Dizzy placed two hands on her hips. "They're trying to think of a way to get us all out of trouble and get Zander back in and implicate the civilian. You think you can cut them some slack?"

Zander nearly dropped the sheet metal eying the trooper. "I'm going with you?" His eyes widened with disbelief. He watched Jenkins, Rico and Zim look at a delighted, jumping girl oddly. Suddenly, he was filled with a warm fuzzy feeling he hadn't felt in awhile.

He felt a nudge from the pilot beside him. "You didn't think Rico'd leave you here did you?"

The former officer just gave Ibanez a questionable expression. "I'll endanger you all." He stated bluntly.

Carmen waved it off. "Been there. Done that." She shrugged. "Besides, I think they've just had a eureka moment." She pointed at the the three younger troopers exchanging high fives while Zim disapprovingly shook his head.

The bugman raised his head just to see the Jenkins and Rico heading for them while a conversation continued between the girl and the sergeant. The two seemed pretty proud of themselves. The other two they left though were suddenly serious in whatever they were talking about.

Carl Jenkins smiled as he approached the small group. "You're coming with us." His smile grew wider. "We found a loophole." He informed the troopers.

"It's called--" Rico cleared his through for effect, "the Genetics Non discrimination act." He emphasized each word with hand gestures in the air. "It's how they defended the Tophetti to join the war. Sky Marshal, then General Redwing, defended it herself. Meaning, as long as you're willing and able to serve, genetics and race shouldn't be holding you back." He beamed proudly.

Zander Barcalow, the half-man half- bug creature, smirked as much as a half-man half bug creature can. "Just so we're clear Rico, I never liked you."

-- -- -

"Charlie." A highly decorated greeted glumly on a digital screen atop the Valley Forge.

"Miriam." Sgt. Zim leaned back on his chair. It had been a few months after the Klendathu incident. Zander Barcalow was left within the confines of Klendathu command helping them track the bugs in his restricted holdings. Some of SICON's top scientists had been assigned to Klendathu to see if they could turn Zander back to normal or at least supress the bug in him without killing the trooper.

It sounded like a story book ending. The sergeant knew that if something seemed to good to be true, it normally is. "You look tired. Maybe you should rest." Zim suggested concerened about the official's health.

Sky Marshal Miriam Redwing just gave him a small smile. " I was about to tell you the same thing." She replied in amusement. "But no, I just called in to give you some news before you get it from anywhere else." The sad expression returned. "Leonardo Toscana was set free." She raised her hand to tell him to let her finish. "But SICON will now be looking very closely about how they conduct their affairs and--" The Sky Marshal paused looking suspiciously at her calm friend. "You're not surprised." She observed.

Sgt. Zim shrugged. "In Klendathu, a little bird told me the odds of him being acquitted were very high."

"What else did this little bird tell you?" She asked curiously.

This time the Zim leaned forward. "It said that SICON should try to be more... 'friendly' to civilians-- that we shouldn't only care about what citizens think. It warned that only an extraordinary reason would prompt world leaders to submit their powers to one governing body. Our reason was the bugs. But at a time that the world thinks that we've won..." He sighed. "The little bird said that if SICON wants to continue on, it has to stay relevant."

"The basis of this hypothesis is..."

"History." Zim replied wincing when the girl lowered her gaze in defeat. "Just be careful, Miriam." He forced a smile on his face.

The Sky Marshal met his gaze. "Funny, I was about to tell you the same thing." There was a buzz in her end. She rolled her eyes. "I have to go. SICON has to stay relevant." She said wryly.

Sgt. Zim chuckled. "Me too, I have to go disappoint a little bird."

-- -- -

: : hits buzzer: done!


End file.
